1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to crimp presses and, more specifically, to a method of controlling a crimp press for crimping a hose assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known to provide a crimp press for crimping a hose assembly. Typically, the crimp press has a bed ram, and crimp die. The ram of the crimp press is reciprocally movable towards the bed to drive the crimp die together to contact and crimp a sleeve of a fitting onto a hose to form the hose assembly.
It is also known to use aluminum tubing for fittings on an air conditioning system of a motor vehicle. Although the aluminum tubing has worked well, it may be collapsed during crimping in the crimp press. The collapsed tubing may result in a weakened fitting and restricted fluid flow therethrough. To prevent the aluminum tubing from collapsing, a steel insert is typically disposed inside of the aluminum tubing prior to crimping. The steel insert helps maintain the internal diameter of the aluminum tubing. However, this steel insert results in added cost in parts and labor for the hose assembly. As a result, there is a need in the art to control the crimp press for crimping a hose assembly to maintain the internal diameter of the tubing and eliminate the need for the steel insert.